Cierra Gaudet - Being A Female Athlete

Being a Female Athlete

For the earlier part of my childhood, being a female athlete wasn’t something I had on my mind or even cared about. I spent most of my days riding my bike, running freely in the grass and climbing trees.

Sometimes I would go on adventures with my dad and younger brother in the woods, or go on walks in the neighbourhood with my mom. I just enjoyed having fun and being outside, but I wasn’t really thinking about athleticism, fitness or training. Being a goofy kid was just fine by me.

Grade 2 was when I started understanding what being a female athlete was all about and the differences between boys and girls natural athletic abilities. I had finally befriended a group of guys to play with during recess (yay friends!) and was stoked to just, well, play. The only real thing we did was play tag, but man, it was intense! My guy friends decided to make it a spectacle and so every lunch hour a group of them would line up on this little bridge by the playground and start challenging each other to races up and down this pathway that was probably 50 metres (so 100m if you went both ways).

At first it was so exciting watching them all run full speed down the path. I would always cheer them all on and yell and scream like a wild child. However, I soon became bored from watching and I desperately wanted to join in on the fun! I remember when I first asked if I could race, the guys all seemed very skeptical. I mean, what girl would want to race a guy right? This one did. Anyways, I finally got my shot and when they yelled “go”, I was ready. I burst away from the bridge, full steam ahead, like someone had lit my butt on fire. I was flying down the path. I could feel myself breathing faster and faster and adrenaline was surging through my tiny body frame. What was even more spectacular was that I was winning! I remember looking back as I crossed the finish line first and realized I had just beaten a guy. I was grinning from ear to ear. That day marked a very important day in my life. That was the day that I realized, I could hold my own with the opposite sex.

I went on to win many more lunch time races and in the end was undefeated on the playground. It really helped me build some confidence in myself as I was really shy beforehand and now I even had won the respect of most of the guys in my elementary class. I carried that positive energy forward and made a commitment to always be the quickest of the girls and to keep up (or beat) the boys. I became VERY competitive and this is where my days of wearing frilly clothes and dresses disappeared and instead I rocked those coveralls like any proud tomboy chick would. It became a game; to be the best. If we were having relay races in gym class, I had to be first. If we were climbing ropes in gym class, I had to be first. If we were changing in the locker room, I had to finish first. If we were running laps around the school at lunch time, I wanted to run the most. I wanted everyone to know, but mostly the guys, that I meant serious business. Yes, I was a scrawny little girl on the outside, but I was a force to be reckoned with if someone tried to tease me.

I carried this mindset with me right through junior high and high school. It was a bit harder now as puberty began to set in and the guys were getting bigger and stronger. Some of them began to surpass me in certain areas, but I always tried to keep up and be a competitor. If I couldn’t beat them, I at least wanted their respect. However, I still had high expectations to be one of the best female athletes and so I began training 5-6 days a week. I began to notice that I was putting on some muscle which was a nice change. I was getting stronger and this meant that I could keep up with both sexes. If there was a pick-up game of basketball going on in the gym, I could join in and the team wouldn’t be “at a disadvantage”…that was always the goal, not to be looked at as a nuisance, but to be looked at as a threat.

For the most part, I am very happy with who I am today as a female athlete. Obviously, there comes a point when I had to realize that genetics plays a bit of a role in my ability versus my male counterpart and so I had to settle with not necessarily being the best, but being respectable. However, this also presents a problem, because as females, we shouldn’t have to “impress” anyone, especially not males  when it comes to our natural athletic ability. When I’m in the gym doing squats, I sometimes see other men glancing at the weight I have up on the bar and looking slightly puzzled, as if they are questioning my ability to perform the action. When I successfully complete the set and re-rack the bar, it feels amazing. But even if they weren’t there to witness me do that, it would still feel amazing.

My main point is simply this; I won’t judge you, so why bother judging me? I mean, we’re all athletes, of various ages and abilities; we should respect one another for reaching new accomplishments and for taking the initiative to better our health. We don’t need to put one another down; we need to build each other up. When I workout now, I always carry respect with me, whether it’s a smile, a nod or a high-five, it’s important to pass along positive vibes and not negative ones. Women have come a long way in sport and I think that’s something that should be recognized. In the end, all I want as a female is respect, from everyone.  

Cierra Gaudet - Culture Shock From PEI To The Nation's Capital

Small-Town Girl to a City Slicker!

When I was younger, I never dreamt that I would ever live in a big city, much less the capital of Canada at that. I had my first real taste of city life when my family took a vacation to Toronto when I was 12 years old. I remember being VERY nervous to fly and then completely shocked when I saw how tall the buildings were in Toronto from a bird’s eye view! It was so bizarre. To me, I couldn’t

figure out why there were no potato fields, farmland and beaches. Instead, all I could see were buildings upon buildings, skyscrapers upon skyscrapers and I knew at that moment that I wasn’t in island territory anymore. No, this was a whole new adventure.

If I had to describe PEI in one word, I think I would choose “serene” because of how life moves on a day to day basis. While some people are busy-bodies, for the most part, life on the island is very slow-paced, relaxing and blissful (ignore everything I just said during the winter months…but if anything, it just makes us appreciate the other seasons dearly). In PEI there are approximately 145, 000 people and where I grew up in Summerside, about 15, 000…hence you definitely had the “small-town” feel.

Summerside, PEI

I really enjoyed growing up in Summerside because everyone was so friendly and families were extremely close to one another. If you went out shopping, you’d probably run into at least one person you knew and it was just a very tight-knit community atmosphere. We have the main necessities like most cities, but not to the same extent. There is one high school, one movie theatre, one main recreation center for sports, one main mall, a couple grocery stores, some fast food joints, a few nice restaurants, small businesses and then you have our local tourist attractions such as the Shipyard market, Spinnakers Landing and the Loyalist hotel. (Although in the last few years, we’ve gotten a lovely boardwalk, our recreation center has been redone, we’ve gotten an A&W, a Sportchek and I’ve heard that we are patiently awaiting a Starbucks to open!) So, I mean, we’re getting there. The speed limit around town is 40 (except for the odd back roads which are 70 and then there is one stretch of highway where you can get up to 90 and that was always a highlight!) but basically it’s pretty “slow-going”. It’s no wonder why PEI has been such a favorite vacation spot for years! It provides a very relaxing atmosphere and you’re only 10 minutes from a beach in practically any direction. Finding a little slice of paradise is always just a short drive away. My parents live by the water and can kayak every day, that’s just amazing!

I was very lucky to be born with natural athletic ability which allowed me to pick up any sport pretty quickly. I took an interest in cross country, soccer, basketball, badminton and track & field, but mostly focused on both basketball and track as my two main passions. I was fortunate enough to transfer my work ethic for academics into my training for sports and so this gave me an edge when trying out for teams. I am proud to say that I made every team I ever tried out for (but not without hard work and dedication before the tryouts). I didn’t want to just be picked for a team, I wanted the team to need me and that was always my philosophy. My greatest sporting achievement growing up as a high school athlete would have been attending the 2009 Canada Summer Games as a dual sport athlete for both basketball and track.

I never really noticed a difference in living, or sports until I began to venture off-island for team trips and tournaments. The way of life was different (much faster) and the competition was incredibly harder. It was only then that I began to see the differences between provinces and between cities. In junior high and high school, most of the travelling I did for sports was within the Maritime Provinces, with the exception of Newfoundland. I found that when competing within the Maritimes, the level of competition was relatively similar, but it still wasn’t the same as playing back home. The level of talent in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia was evident in the fact that there were so many different club teams to play and compete against. There were many more athletes to choose from, whereas on PEI we had only one team for each age group. Therefore, on my U17 basketball team, there were only 12 of us and if someone got hurt, we didn’t have any replacement options waiting around. For track it much the same. The NB and NS track clubs were bigger and the talent was incredible.

I still didn’t really understand the essence of being from a big province until Canada Games began. I then got a taste of the rest of Canada’s talent, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and man, did I EVER notice a difference then! I mean let’s just think about this for a second. Ontario’s U17 girl’s Canada Games team was made up of only 12 players. The 12 BEST players in all of Ontario, who travelled from numerous cities to attend try-outs and then if they made the team, travelled even greater distances to make practices. In the bigger cities, there is so

much talent to choose from that as an athlete, you need to specialize in your sport early. The hard work and dedication of these athletes was amazing and it’s no wonder why these teams are successful. This is where being from a smaller province presents some differences. Most athletes can play more than one sport, there are only a certain percentage of us that will continuously try-out for sports teams and so you have a good chance of making more than one squad. At first I thought that maybe this was the reason why the level of talent was so much different than from other provinces in Canada. However, I still thought that my teams trained, practiced and competed just as much as these other teams so what was the issue?

In the end, I narrowed it down to geographic location and funding. PEI is a very small province; we unfortunately do not have the same amount of funding capacity that can go towards sports compared to some of these bigger provinces such as Ontario, Alberta and BC. Moreover, we also do not have the same level of competition to play against on a regular basis. For us to even play a good team we had to travel off-island to do so and that cost money. Money, which we had to save up for bigger tournaments, National championships and Canada Games, therefore it made a difference. I am by no means saying that I feel in any way ashamed for competing for my province. If anything, I am proud to say that I was one of the best from PEI and that’s something that I pride myself on and will forever. It just made me realize, that sometimes, things are out of your control, but that shouldn’t stop you from playing your best and giving it your all in any sport you do. From coast to coast, each athlete has a certain level of respect for the other. At the end of the day, yeah, maybe I didn’t win as many medals as some other athletes, but I still felt a sense of accomplishment and that’s what truly matters. J

Guest Blogger Cierra Gaudet Talks About Her Experience As A Collegiate Student-Athlete

uOttawa Minto Sports Complex


I have had the absolute pleasure to get to know Cierra over the last few years. We have fostered a friendship over the mutual disdain of several course (sorry professors :P), in particular this last year. She is an extremely smart and hard working young woman. She gives a considerable amount of volunteer time. And, she is an accomplished athlete while doing all this. So, without further ado... Cierra's own words...

Since the land before time (or so it seems after so many years!), I have been devoted to furthering my education and dedicating a lot of my time and energy to sports. I was born into a loving family that has supported me from day one of my athletic career; however, I learned very early on that being a student-athlete came with very high priorities, a large amount of responsibility and crucial time-management.

Growing up, my mom valued education very much (and still does) and so she pushed my younger brother and I to achieve high grades in school. I enjoyed learning and so I would always strive to get the best grades in my class. When I was younger, I dreamed of getting a scholarship and so that was continuously on the back of my mind throughout my junior high and high school years.

My dad is a sports fanatic and he was a phenomenal athlete during his prime years. For as long as I can remember, Sports Center would always be blasting on the televisions throughout the house. He pushed my brother and I to train hard every day. My parents were really great role models (and they still are!) and I love them for everything they've done for me since I entered this world.

However, being a student-athlete wasn't all fun and games. A lot of the times it was very frustrating to say the least. I gave up a lot; birthday parties, movie dates, beach days, shopping sprees, house parties, outdoor concerts, junk food…etc. I had no free time to waste. I was in school for 8 hours a day, training two hours after classes and then catching up on all of my homework at night. In high school I became obsessed with my grades (probably more than I should have been) and so I didn't want anything less than a 90%. I spent countless hours at my desk studying and almost just as much time training. At some point I became very stressed and irritable. Nobody would want to be around me, let alone put up with me on a regular basis. Therefore, this led to further sacrifices, only this time I began to sacrifice my training if I was worried about school. It made me angry to do so, but at the end of the day, my mom reminded me that I was a student-athlete, meaning that being a student always comes first.

Eventually, during my senior year of high school, I realized that I wanted positive memories rather than negative ones. I realized that my family and friends shouldn't be getting pushed to the side. I began to make myself schedules for the week and I would plan activities in advance to have something to look forward to and keep me motivated to finish everything on time. My grades didn’t suffer and I began to realize that studying less was actually more. I looked at good quality studying over bad quality studying and began to realize that I could actually achieve what I wanted to in three hours instead of eight. I also realized that this was the same for my training. All of a sudden, I had more free time for myself to do what I wanted and my quality of life sky-rocketed! I graduated high school with top academic honors, athletic recognition and my scholarship!

Unfortunately, during my first two years of university, I was stressed all the time. I missed out on pretty much everything and lived as a hermit in my dorm room. I forgot about every lesson I had learned in high school and was frustrated with my grades, my training and my schedule. Fortunately, I had a good support system of family and friends and after taking a few excellent classes from a professor who specialized in sport psychology and quality of life, I began to fall back into my positive habits. I began to make time for myself, reconnect with old friends, strengthen relationships with my family members and pretty soon I noticed that my grades and my athletic performance were back on top. Again, I was just trying too hard and not focusing on the big picture. 

Now that I’m almost done of my undergraduate degree (only two exams left), I've realized that when things seem super stressful, they probably aren't AS stressful as they seem, but it’s all in how we perceive the stressor in the first place. In the last two years, I've realized that pushing myself to the point where I get sick is useless and that there are more important things in life then grades and sports. What we should strive for first and foremost, is being a good quality family member, friend, sibling, cousin, teammate, parent, coach…etc. There will always be time for learning and training, but life itself has an ending and so I want to share my time with everyone who’s helped me grow into the person I've become along the way. In my head, I always thought being a student-athlete was impressive, but now I’m realizing that being a student-athlete was just the foundation to instill a lot of good life skills, lessons and values that have served me well over the years. I've loved every minute of my career, but more importantly, I love the person I've become because of it. Now I’m ready to give back to others! 

Keeping Kids Engaged And While Teaching/Coaching Age/Developmentally Appropriate Skills/Movements

Which of these group of kids do you believe will become better at sports and learn more?

OR, these kids...

Let's also ignore the age difference - the pictures simply depicted the dichotomy I wanted to discuss :P

So.. which kids will become better athletes?

Which of those two pictures will ultimately produce the next superstar?

Did you pick the second picture? The one where they are doing drills. If you did, I am sorry to say you are incorrect. Well, that isn't quite true. The more accurate answer is there is no way for us to know.

The key point, however, is that doing drills and constant skill work at a very young age is NOT, I repeat. Doing drills, skills and technique work at a young age IS NOT what will determine how successful of an athlete your young child will become. Although I will disclaimer that Canadian Sport for Life does acknowledge the early specialization allotment for gymnastics, diving, and figure skating.

Recently, I came across a young mother that was coaching for the first time her young four year old boy. He would get upset that mommy was paying attention to others (a feeling I know all to well with an only child), the lack of response and seeming involvement from parents, and teaching these children how to play ball. The following was my take on it, and my advice (mind you, it was unsolicited, but we all know that's the best kind :P).

Guest Bloggers And Special Spotlights On The Horizon

I've been working hard and long finding some special guests to contribute here. Sadly... no one likes me.... /tear. Just kidding! Not really, I bribed them... /sob

In all seriousness, the question remains... who are these amazing people?

I have been talking to fellow colleagues, classmates, business associates, fellow athletes, and coaches. Essentially, anyone that I could bother and twist their arm :P

I am hoping that in the next few weeks I will be able to first start introducing these amazing people, and then, once I have had enough time to bribe them once again, they will start sharing some of their special stories, experiences, and interests.

This will be a fantastic way to showcase the amazing talent that people all around us have!

And, if you believe you know someone special, or have something really awesome to share, let me know... I'd be glad to give you some artistic freedom.